Southern California -- this just in

Lobstergate

Details: A jury gave $4.1 million to a trio of Long Beach police officers who were burglarized and harassed after they turned in their colleagues for pilfering lobsters from the Pacific.

The lobster thieves were...

...conducting illegal lobster dives while on duty in the Port of Long Beach.

Officer Craig Patterson, Officer Warren Harris and Sgt. David Gage each were awarded between $1.1 million and $1.5 million after three days of deliberations in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Patterson and Harris have long contended that they were marked as "snitches," denied job opportunities and had personal items stolen and vandalized in the aftermath of the mini-scandal sarcastically dubbed "Lobstergate." Gage said he was forced into early retirement.